Gut Health and Brain Function

The impact the gut has on the entire body should not be underestimated, but unfortunately in conventional medicine it often is. We are shuttling pounds and pounds of food into this tube we have called the digestive system several times a day and we don’t give it a second thought—it’s pretty crazy when you think about it. The gut is responsible for our ability to turn food into fuel; to absorb and even create certain nutrients; to rid the body of harmful toxins on a daily basis. We rely on it to do so much for us. 

It’s also one of my favorite topics as a Functional Medicine doctor—poop, the microbiome, the gut-immune and gut-brain connections—there are so many angles we need to look at with gut health and they can tell us an amazing amount of information about the rest of the body. That’s why I’m so excited for this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, where I sit down with my friend and colleague Dr. Todd LePine to take a deeper look at digestive health and the fascinating collection of life forms we carry around inside and on us, called the microbiome. 

This episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is brought to you by Joovv and Thrive Market.

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Here are more of the details from our interview: 

• The patient who first lead Dr. LePine to observe the gut-brain connection (6:01)

• Why the gut microbiome is so central to overall health and what to eat to best feed your gut (11:15)

• Fatty liver and the disruption of the gut microbiome (18:14)

• The gut-immune system connection and treating autoimmune disease (24:46)

• Functional Medicine vs conventional medicine (29:18)

• Why skin issues require you to treat the gut (33:32)

• Your mitochondria are actually ancient bacteria, how Dr. LePine tests mitochondrial health, and how fasting can benefit your health (37:39)

• Treating and preventing Parkinson’s disease (48:25)

• How toxins affect the body and why clean water, food, and air is so important to detoxifying  (53:00)

• How Dr. LePine stopped and reversed Alzheimer’s disease in a recent patient (1:02:46)

Learn more about working with Dr. Todd LePine at The UltraWellness Center at https://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com/team-member/todd-r-lepine-md/.